COLUMBIA - Columbia resident Nathan Fleischmann held his first private event Saturday for his new mobile shoe business, Stadium Shoes.

Fleischmann sells shoes, sunglasses and socks in the back of a truck. He said he got the idea from the food truck concept.

"If they can sell food from a truck, why can't you sell shoes and clothes from a truck," Fleischmann said. "I started looking at mobile retail options around the country and low and behold it's been happening, is happening and now to this day I've brought the shoe truck to Columbia."

Fleischmann placed second in the Columbia Regional Economic Development, Inc. #Boom Pitch Competition. He used his winnings of $3,000 and more than $7,000 he raised from a kickstarter.com campaign to launch his new business.

Fleischmann said he is pleased with the truck's success so far.

"The response has been great," Fleischmann said. "A lot of people have been going to my website and requesting to find out where the truck is going to be next. I'm really looking forward to showing up at festivals and events and private parties, wherever people want the truck to be."

He said he wants to experiment with different products based on customer feedback.

"Having the truck open is more along the lines of running a marathon," he said. "It's just one part of the journey so far. It feels great, but I feel like I'm half way there at this point. Now it's all about seeing what customers are responding to what they want to have on the shoe truck, and really about delivering that product."

Fleischmann said he plans to keep the truck in Columbia for his first year of business.